Born in 1963 in Montérégie, Quebec, polymath Patrice Martin is a writer, musician, and politician - he currently serves as a Gatineau city council member and is a former clerk in Canada's House of Commons. He concedes his working life in government bureaucracy helped shaped his first novel, the deliciously absurd Kafka's Hat. In 1994 he co-authored, with Patrick Savidan, La culture de la dette [The Culture of Debt]. Martin holds a degree in political science from the University of Ottawa.

Chantal Bilodeau is a New York-based playwright and translator originally from Montreal. Her translations include plays by Mohamed Kacimi (Algeria), Koffi Kwahulé (Ivory Coast), Étienne Lepage (Quebec) and Larry Tremblay (Quebec). She is currently at work on a six-play cycle, titled *The Arctic Cycle.